Coming to think of it, whether Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn is innocent or not does not matter. If he is, the omnipresent system that is destroying him is rotten. If he is guilty of covertly benefiting from online gambling as alleged, this is a man who was once two days away from being an official contender to head the entire police force.
In other words, the whole police bureaucracy needs a major overhaul either way, and the only genuine victim here no matter how things turn out in the end is the Thai public who expect the police to be clean while protecting them, serving them and enforcing the law.
Some may say this is the price people have to pay for law and order. They may say police are like that when it comes to promotions. They will lobby or even pay bribes to superiors to get good positions or “lucrative” responsibilities. And police anywhere else are corrupt, not just those in Thailand.
That is an apologist’s argument that even sounds defeatist. To say that bad things can be done or condoned because they are common everywhere is absurd to say the least. It’s an argument that leads to a slippery slope, albeit misguided tolerance of wrongdoings.
Let’s talk about the scenario of him being an innocent victim of political persecution. Who have been involved? Politicians in power. Top police officials. Respected media personalities. Social media influencers. A large, misinformed part of the public commenting online.
It’s basically a case of the whole Thai society ganging up against one seemingly-capable and fearless policeman who in an ideal world should lead law enforcement.
Now, what if he is guilty? Some may say Thailand has dodged a bullet because an unexpected siege and search of his house took place just two days before the deputy police chief could have been nominated for the highest police post. But was it really a close call?
At that time near the nomination, “Big Joke” was a high-flying police officer, powerful and supported by some influential media figures and lawyers. Thailand has not dodged a bullet. In fact, one bullet after another struck Thailand throughout his professional climb if he was the man his accusers said he was.
In which case we should not say “Phew, that was close!” We should ask why he was allowed to go that high up.
In both scenarios (Surachate the abused and Surachate the abuser), the National Anti-Corruption Commission was involved as well.
Here are the facts generally known by the public or acknowledged by him: He once sought impeachment of Suchart Trakulkasemsuk, when the latter was a strong candidate to become the NACC’s new head, for “unusual wealth”. Then he mysteriously accompanied Suchart to visit House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha last December.
Someone audio-recorded the visit, in which complaints against Suchart was superficially mentioned in the superficial conversation. The clip, which showed only Suchart and Wan Noor, not Surachate, was leaked to the media.
Why Surachate brought Suchart to visit the House speaker in the first place is a murky story. It, on the one hand, is playing into the hands of those trying to discredit the NACC man or his entire agency, and, on the other hand, made a lot of people frown on the suspended police official himself.
Did Surachate want Parliament to end impeachment proceedings? If so, why did he want that?
Or was Surachate just acting as a naïve go-between responding to the other two’s wishes to meet? (In which case he was too naïve for comfort because a police official that senior at least should have known that he should get involved in that kind of things.)
Or was Surachate plotting an entrapment and exploiting the divisive political atmosphere in which trust and mistrust of “independent agencies” are clashing?
None of the questions boosts confidence in the overall system.
Initially, Surachate denied accompanying Suchart. The policeman made a U-turn afterwards, but did not quite say why. He only admitted that he accompanied Suchart to Wan Noor’s house.
Wan Noor has accused Surachate of trying to make him meet Suchart for no reason and then “not acting like a man”. Suchart has been reticent, both in the clip and afterwards. Surachate himself has said: “We all know what the meeting was all about and everyone including me is speaking half the truth. If I’m not afraid of facing libel charges, I will speak the whole truth.”
The “Surachate is a good man” narrative has the policeman help expose dishonest lobbying involving the NACC and Parliament.
The “Surachate is cunning and corrupt” scenario has him set up both Suchart and Wan Noor. This would give the NACC, which played a role in his investigation, a bad name.
The latter scenario also has Surachate in a last-ditch struggle because an investigation into the online gambling allegations was known to have been completed and his punishment, if he was found guilty, was looming.
According to Sondhi Limthongkul, the Manager Group’s media mogul, Suchart at the wheels of the NACC could affect anyone having several cases handled by the agency. Sondhi said he suspects that Surachate could have a hidden agenda.
Sondhi, one of the most vocal critics against Surachate, has described the latter as a desperate man at the end of his rope. The media man seems right, at least partly. Surachate appears truly hopeless, but we don’t quite know why.
What we do know with a heavy heart is that, when it comes to law enforcement, it does not matter much if Sondhi is right or wrong.
